SUMMARY REPORT ON FORESTS OF THE MATAQALI NADICAKE KILAKA, KUBULAU DISTRICT, BUA, VANUA LEVU By Gunnar Keppel (Biology Department, University of the South Pacific) INTRODUCTION I was approached by Dr. David Olson of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) to assess the type, status and quality of the forest in Kubulau District, Bua, Vanua Levu. I initially spent 2 days, Friday (28/10/2005) afternoon and the whole of Saturday (29/10/2005), in Kubulau district. This invitation was the result of interest by some landowning family clans (mataqali) to protect part of their land and the offer by WCS to assist in reserving part of their land for conservation purposes. On Friday I visited two forest patches (one logged about 40 years ago and another old-growth) near the coast and Saturday walking through the forests in the center of the district. Because of the scarcity of data obtained (and because the forest appeared suitable for my PhD research), I decided to return to the district for a more detailed survey of the northernmost forests of Kubulau district from Saturday (12/11/2005) to Tuesday (22/11/2005). Upon returning, I found out that the mataqali Nadicake Nadi had abandoned plans to set up a reserve and initiated steps to log their forests. Therefore, I decided to focus my research on the land of the mataqali Nadicake Kilaka only. My objectives were the following: 1) to determine the types of vegetation present 2) to produce a checklist of the flora and, through this list, identify rare and threatened species in the reserve 3) to undertake a quantitative survey of the northernmost forests (lowland tropical rain forest) by setting up 4 permanent 50 ×50m plots 4) to assess the status of the forests 5) to determine the state and suitability of the proposed reserve 6) to assess possible threats to the proposed reserve. 7) to survey the thoughts and feelings of the community of Kilaka Village regarding the WCS project and setting aside an area as a reserve METHODS During both visits I conducted a reconnaissance by walking through the forest, identifying dominant species and collecting species in flower or fruit. I also identified as many species as possible (some were only identified to generic level only) and obtained local names wherever possible. During my second visit I also set up four permanent 50 ×50m plots (see Fig. 1 for locations) marked with PVC pipes in lowland tropical rainforest of the northernmost corner of the intended reserve, in which I measured and identified every tree of 10cm or more in diameter. Perceptions of the Kilaka Village community regarding the assistance provided by WCS and the idea of setting aside of forest for a reserve were determined by having formal and informal discussions while drinking kava. Although kava sessions unfortunately generally exclude young and female members of the community, it allows detailed discussions with male youths and older male members of the community, who are the group making discussions regarding land issues. RESULTS Vegetation There are four primary vegetation types in Kubulau district; coastal vegetation (not surveyed), wetlands dominated by Pandanus tectorius (not surveyed), mesic forests and rain forest. Before commenting on the two latter forest types, I would like to draw attention to the presence of extensive wetlands, which are highly threatened in Fiji (Ash 1992). Although these have been highly impacted by local residents through draining and burning, restoration efforts could be worthwhile, considering their rarity in Fiji and that most of the remaining wetlands are severely disturbed. In addition to these primary vegetation types, secondary types that were created anthropogenically, including plantations and gardens, pasture (grasslands maintained by cattle grazing), talasiga (grasslands maintained by burning) and secondary forest (that is at various stages of recovery after logging), are present. My survey focuses on “old-growth” forests and, therefore, the remainder of this section will focus on mesic and rain forests. Mesic Forest Mesic forest is the dominant forest type in the low-lying, near coastal areas of Kubulau and stretches along a rainfall gradient of lower rainfall near the coast and increasing rainfall inland. It hence provides a unique opportunity to study changes in climate and plant composition along a rainfall gradient. However, this forest has also suffered the most from logging, especially on the ridges, where Dacrydium nidulum and Agathis vitiensis are most abundant. Towards the coast Intsia bijuga (vesi) is a dominant component of this forest, as are Fagraea gracillipes (buabua), Myristica castaneifolia (male), Kingiodendron platycarpum (cibicibi), Maniltoa sp. (cibicibi levu), Cynometra insularis (cibicibi lailai), Gymnostoma vitiense (cau) and Dacrydium nidulum (yaka). Further inland (probably associated with greater rainfall) Intsia bijuga, Fagraea berteroana and Kingiodendron platycarpum decrease in importance, and Gymnostoma vitiense and Dacrydium nidulum become increasingly restricted to ridges, while Endospermum robbieanum (vulavula), Heritiera ornithocephala (savai), Agathis macrophylla (tahua mahadre), Sterculia vitiense (waciwaci) and Podocarpus neriifolius (bauwaka) increase in importance. Rain Forest This is mostly found in the northern portion of Kubulau District at elevations of 200 m or more. Much of it is located on flat or gently sloping terrain but there are also steeper slopes. Dominant components of this forest are Retrophyllum vitiense (tahua salusalu), Calophyllum spp. (damanu), Myristica spp. (male, malamala), Gironniera celtidifolia (masivau), Parinari insularum (sea), Semecarpus vitiensis (malawaci), Pagiantha thurstonii (tabua kei ra kalavo) and Syzygium spp. (yasiyasi). Other important species include Palaquium porphyreum (bauvudi), Garcinia myrtifolia (raubu), Firmania diversifolia (cara), Geissois imthurnii (vo’a) and Dysoxylum sp. (tarawau kei soge). This composition is somewhat different from rainforests on Viti Levu visited by me. On ridges Agathis macrophylla, Dacrydium nidulum and Gymnostoma vitiense may be common. In the northernmost corner of Kubulau district and the reserve is an extensive plateau that has many of the species found in the rainforest but is dominated by Atuna racemosa (maki’a). Gironniera celtidifolia and Fagraea gracilipes (bua) are also abundant. This plateau also has an abundance of plants with stilt and prop roots, including Physokentia rosea (niuniu), Crossostylis spp. (no name recorded), Myristica macrantha (male) and Syzygium sp. (yasiyasi). As flowing water and pools of standing water are very common, this could also be considered a wetland. Composition of Lowland Tropical Rainforest A total of 839 trees belonging to 91 species in 43 families were encountered in the four plots totaling 1 ha. Their combined basal area (as calculated from the diameter at breast height (dbh)) was 45.6 m2. Dominant species in terms of basal area were the flowering plants Myristica gillespieana, Parinari insularum and Calophyllum vitiense, and the conifer Retrophyllum vitiense (Table 1). These four species are mostly canopy species (M. gillespieana is also abundant in the subcaopy). However, Gironniera celtidifolia was the most common tree, reflecting its high abundance in the understorey (Table 2). Other common species include Myristica gillespieana and Pagiantha thurstonii. Table 1: The 30 most common species as measured by the basal area of individuals with a dbh of 10cm or more. Basal Area SPECIES FAMILY (sq.m) Myristica gillespieana Myristicaceae 4.130 Retrophyllum vitiense Podocarpaceae 3.835 Parinari insularum Chrysobalanaceae 3.143 Calophyllum vitiense Clusiaceae 3.044 Pagiantha thurstonii Apocynaceae 2.344 Semecarpus vitiense Anacardiaceae 2.338 Myristica castaneifolia Myristicaceae 1.622 Gironniera celtidifolia Ulmaceae 1.588 Geissois imthurnii Cunnoniaceae 1.439 Garcinia myrtifolia Clusiaceae 1.364 Dysoxylum quericifolium Meliaceae 1.350 Palaquium porphyreum Sapotaceae 1.343 Gymnostoma vitiense Casurinaceae 1.274 Firmania diversifolia Sterculiaceae 1.201 Xylopia pacifica Annonaceae 1.113 Buchanania attenuata Anacardiaceae 0.920 Elaeocarpus chelonimorphus Elaeocarpaceae 0.899 Cynometra insularis Caesalpinaceae 0.853 Syzygium rubescens Myrtaceae 0.779 Sterculia vitiense Sterculiaceae 0.750 Syzygium nidie Myrtaceae 0.711 Heritiera ornithocephala Sterculiaceae 0.643 Hedstroemia latifolia Rubiaceae 0.575 Pouteria umbonata Sapotaceae 0.531 Maniltoa minor Caesalpinaceae 0.507 Dillenia biflora Dilleniaceae 0.505 Garcinia sessilis Clusiaceae 0.489 Haplolobus floribundus Burseraceae 0.423 Syzygium leucanthum Myrtaceae 0.392 Syzygium curvistylum Myrtaceae 0.378 Table 2: The 30 most common species as measured by the number of individuals with a dbh of 10cm or more. SPECIES FAMILY FREQ. Gironniera celtidifolia Ulmaceae 130 Myristica gillespieana Myristicaceae 60 Pagiantha thurstonii Apocynaceae 53 Garcinia myrtifolia Clusiaceae 36 Parinari insularum Chrysobalanaceae 35 Semecarpus vitiense Anacardiaceae 34 Hedstroemia latifolia Rubiaceae 28 Myristica castaneifolia Myristicaceae 28 Calophyllum vitiense Clusiaceae 25 Cynometra insularis Caesaplinaceae 23 Dillenia biflora Dilleniaceae 20 Firmania diversifolia Sterculiaceae 20 Retrophyllum vitiense Podocarpaceae 20 Geissois imthurnii Cunnoniaceae 16 Syzygium nidie Myrtaceae 14 Xylopia pacifica Annonaceae 14 Dysoxylum quericifolium Meliaceae 13 Heritiera ornithocephala Sterculiaceae 13 Maniltoa minor Caesaplinaceae 13 Syzygium rubescens Myrtaceae